


The Raven and the Wolf

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Dystopia, M/M, Magic, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-10
Updated: 2013-12-09
Packaged: 2018-01-04 05:22:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1077031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When werewolves were revealed, against their will, as being a reality, there were riots in the streets. The humans were afraid, scared for their lives, and the wolves felt similarly. They had wanted to live their lives in peace, but now they were being recruited as soldiers in a war they didn’t want to fight. They weren’t the bodyguards for the supernatural, so why were they brought into it at all?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Raven and the Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> An AU I'm working on while I have a fair bit of free time. Let me know what you think! If you want to read more, let me know, otherwise I will keep it fairly short.

When Isaac wakes up screaming, Derek is already wolfed out before he even has his feet on the ground. 

This isn’t like the other times in the past week when Isaac had had nightmares so vivid Derek had woken to him howling. Those times, there were no threats. But, now, Isaac’s laboured breaths and cries for help are the only thing his senses are able to pick up on. There are no other sounds, despite the fact they’re in a shack in the middle of the woods, where plenty of creatures should be lurking around. There are no smells, either, and that in itself is almost suffocating. 

Derek doesn’t bother to be quiet as he crosses the room, kneeling down to Isaac’s side to make sure he’s okay. Isaac’s still asleep, and his screaming had once again been nothing more than something inflicted by the curse a mage had put on him the week beforehand, but that doesn’t explain the void of everything else. 

Confused, and worried, Derek shakes Isaac awake, ignores him when his beta says, “It’s nothing, I’m okay, I’m okay,” like he needs to assure Derek that this isn’t more than it is.

“We have to go,” Derek says, fingers tightening their hold on Isaac’s wrist, “We need to get out of here.”

Isaac sits up then, going from half-asleep to awake and alert in just a few seconds. There are bruises beneath his eyes, a consequence of both having nightmares every time he shuts his eyes and being the soldier in a war he doesn’t want to fight, but it doesn’t stop him from looking determined.

“Why? Is there a threat? I can’t smell or hear anything,” he says nonchalantly, then freezes, “I can’t smell or hear anything at all.”

Derek nods, and stands up. 

He ushers Isaac toward the back door of the shack, but of course it won’t open even though they’d picked the shack for this very reason. A quick getaway.

“We’re going to have to go through the front,” Derek tells Isaac, “Be prepared to fight, but stay behind me.” 

Derek covers Isaac as they leave through the front door, willing to face any enemies first. Last week a mage had driven them from the place they’d chosen for the night, and when they’d stayed back to fight, Isaac had been hit with a curse that they’d originally laughed at. 

“Nightmares?” Isaac had said incredulously, “It’s not like I don’t get them already.”

“We’re at war,” Derek had replied, “Who doesn’t?” 

Now, though, they’d realised the gravity of the situation. The nightmares were just that, but they fed off of Isaac’s worst fears and continued to affect him throughout the day. When he closes his eyes, he sees whatever it is that tortures him until he wakes up in a cold sweat and screaming. 

They stop just a couple of feet outside of the shack when their senses come flooding back, and Derek immediately picks up on a person standing around the corner, obscured by the foliage. 

Derek growls, instantly going into defence. 

“Relax, wolf,” the person says, coming out of their hiding spot to stand in front of Isaac and Derek. 

His hands are up in the universal sign of ‘surrender’, and his face is mostly obscured by the hood of his coat. He’s wearing black jeans, a black button-up coat along with boots and a pair of gloves. It’s cold outside, but not cold enough to necessitate wearing all of that, which means he’s mostly wearing the clothing to cover the tattoos that no doubt mark his skin. 

“You’re a mage,” Derek bites out, not bothering to pretend to appear friendly, “Relaxing could get me killed.”

“If I wanted to kill you I would have done so already,” the Mage replies, an attitude masking his earlier diplomacy.

“Instead you decided to cut off of our senses to the outside world, so we wouldn’t know what we’d be facing once we left.” 

“It was the only way for you to wake up without immediately thinking you were in danger. I was trying to be nice.” 

Derek scoffs, “Why would we need to be awake?” 

“We need shelter. For the night,” the Mage looks behind him, as if he’s waiting for a group of people to appear. 

If they’re around, then the Mage is obscuring their heartbeats and other signs of life.

“And you couldn’t just take it?” 

Isaac clears his throat, speaking up for the first time in the exchange, “Why did you need our permission?”

“You were there first,” the Mage replies, like it’s that easy, “and I wanted to prove that I wasn’t a threat.” 

Derek nods, even though he doesn’t agree, because shutting down someone’s senses isn’t the best way to prove you aren’t a threat. Still, it’s better than it could have been. Mages were notoriously ruthless, turning on past allies once both the wolves and humans made it clear that the blame for the war fell on those with magic.

It had been an accident. Someone had been outed as a magic-user in public, which led mages and witches to showing their support and unveiling themselves as well. Seeing them as a threat, the humans were outraged, the governments pushing through bills to have the ‘new’ race contained. Desperate, they’d wanted to form an alliance, a pact so the humans would face resistance. 

When werewolves were revealed, against their will, as being a reality, there were riots in the streets. The humans were afraid, scared for their lives, and the wolves felt similarly. They had wanted to live their lives in peace, but now they were being recruited as soldiers in a war they didn’t want to fight. They weren’t the bodyguards for the supernatural, so why were they brought into it at all? 

This resulted in war, as most political disagreements tend to. 

The war on drugs. 

The war on terror. 

The war on your foreign neighbour. 

The war on your supernatural one. 

Humans had the clearly defined enemy of the supernatural, so it was impossible for mages to seek help from them. Similarly, the wolves had felt betrayed by the magic users; unwilling to help, and more than likely to seek revenge. 

When beforehand those with supernatural bled would fight together, they were now divided as enemies. Ever since, the mages were relentless in their killings and curses. Anyone in their way, anyone who wasn’t too a magic user, would be killed. 

“You expect us to believe that you’re asking for our permission to stay here? That you don’t want to kill us?” Derek asks, distrust lacing his words. 

“You can believe whatever you want, wolf. But, I do not believe in spilling blood for a war that is not my own. I have allies of my own to look after, both wolf and human, and they are my priority.”

“You’re allied with others?” Isaac asks, stepping forward to stand beside Derek. 

The mage nods, “My family, from before. I promise I’m not a threat to you.” 

“How can you think that we’d believe you?” 

“You’ve heard about me. You know who I am.”

He doesn’t wait for Isaac or Derek to ask the obvious question. Instead, he lifts up the right sleeve of his coat, revealing a tattoo of a raven that takes up the entirety of his forearm. He angles his arm to hide his other tattoos, using his left hand to cover any others that would otherwise be on display. 

“The Raven,” Derek says, “You’re the Raven.”

The Mage nods, letting go of his sleeve. 

Ever since the war had begun, news broadcasts of the Raven were streamed worldwide. He was a common target, of magic users and wolves and humans alike. He non-discriminatorily bombed shelters and camp sites, destroying them so the groups would be forced to retreat. Though, every time, the sites were free from people. Distractions were set up to lure everyone away, and that’s when the Raven would strike.

Only once had someone been injured. 

And it was only known that it had been an act of the Raven because of the signature he left behind. After the fires had burnt out, when people were finally able to return, only to learn that everything they had left had been destroyed, they were faced with the scorch marks over their campsite. Rather than looking like a natural fire, something that simply burnt itself out leaving a trail of ash in its wake, the scorch marks formed a raven. 

“You killed a girl,” Derek says, because he has to, “A human girl. You let her burn alive.”

The Raven’s face turns dark, “I regret that. I thought she’d left, evacuated like everyone else, but she hadn’t. I realised halfway through the blitz, and put a protective barrier around her. Only, these days humans are raised to think that magic is there to hurt them. They’re told the best way to identify different kinds of spells, and in cases of barriers, how to destroy them. She put a blade through the shelter I’d given her. There was nothing I could do, after that.”

Derek nods, believing him. He tried not to kill the people he came across, didn’t believe in the cause and didn’t want to shed blood for something he didn’t believe in. Though, when threatened, he had to. He tried to knock them out if he could, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. 

Usually, when he heard Isaac’s cries for help, his wolf couldn’t help but lash out as well. 

Derek nods again, reluctantly saying, “You can stay here. We’ll leave in good faith, a promise that you won’t give us trouble.” 

“You were here first,” the Raven says, and at first Derek doesn’t understand why he’s pointing out the obvious, “either you can say ‘no’, and we’ll leave. Or, with your permission, we can share. There’s enough room for you two, and the three of us.”

“Three?” Isaac asks, because they still hadn’t seen anyone but the mage. 

“A wolf and a human,” the Raven says. 

Isaac says, “A wolf, a human and a raven.”

The Raven nods, “So?” 

Isaac looks to Derek, deferring the decision to his alpha, while Derek simply stares straight ahead. He doesn’t make his mind up until the Raven’s allies come forward, stepping out of the shadows. Derek still can’t hear their heartbeats or smell them, but he can see them. One’s male, his hand entwined with a female’s, who, Derek realises, is heavily pregnant. 

That gives him what he needs to make up his mind.

He nods.


End file.
